Steam plant



A ril 14, 1931.

J. RUTHS STEAM PLANT Original Filed April 29, 1925 BOILER BOILER mmronJollamias Baths Patented Apr. 14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEJOKAZNNES RUTHS, or munsnomvr, swumnv, ASSIGNOR T RUTHS ACCUMULATOB,

nxrrnnorns STEAM PLANT Original application filed April 29, 1925,Serial. N'o. 26,127, and. in Sweden January 13, 1922. Divided and thisapplication filed January 25, 1926.

larly to the accumulation of hot water for use as feed water or forindustrial purposes.

Among the purposes of the invention are:'

to equalize between heat generation and heat consumption in a steamplant, particularly where variations are such that equalization canbeeliected through feed reserve or where there is a demand for hot waterfor industrial purposes; to increase production in a steam plant; totake care of variable supply of heat to boilers and to maintain constantconditions in various parts of a plant.

By the present invention an accumulator can be built which is many timessmaller and much less costly than the known steam accumulator ofvariable pressure; boiler firing can be made entirely independent ofconsumption of steam or hot water; hot water is always in reserve in anydesired quantity at a given temperature; boilers can be run with thebest efficiency and other advantages are obtained as will be apparentfrom the description following:

The present application is particularly concerned with an arrangementwherein a mixing of steam and cold water takes place in a smallreceptacle whereby hot water is produced and from which receptacle thehot water produced is conducted to a large accumulator tank.

The various features of the invention will be apparent as thedescription proceeds which is to be taken in-connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 shows a plant according to thepresent invention, including essential features neces sary to carry outthe operation as herein set forth; Fig. 2 shows a detail of one form ofover-flow valve used in the plant of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a modifiedform of the small mixing receptacle of Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 shows asection on an enlarged scale of the water control valve of Figs. 1 and3.

My invention is applicable to steam plants Serial No. 83,573.

having any kind of boilers for producing steam in any manner. In Fig. 1are shown two boilers 9 and 10 of which 9 may be considered as coalfired and 10 as fired by Waste heat supplied through flue 70. The steamgenerated in the boilers passes into the steam conduit 11 from which apart of the steam generated passes to a steam consumer 12 which may be,as indicated, a motor. The remainder of the steam passes through conduit14 to a small receptacle 13.

Inserted in conduit His an over-flow valve 15. This valve is controlledby the pressure infront of the same which in the case illustrated is theboiler pressure and also the supply pressure for consumer 12. The valve15 operates to maintain a constant pressure in conduit 11 and allowsthesurplus of steam generated over what is used by the consumer 12 to passinto receptacle 13where it is condensed by cold water sup lied throughconduit 20 and from which t e hot water produced passes through conduit21 to the accumulator tank A. p

A designates my novel heat accumulator which might be termed a constanttemperature, variable Water level accumulator, since it is acharacteristic feature of this accumulator that in normal operation itstemperature is maintained constant and the water level in the samevaries in accordance with the amount of heat stored in the same.

The accumulator may be made in a number of ways. As an example of oneway of making the same I have shown a vertical cylindrical receptaclewhich is suitably supported in any desired manner. The accumulator has asteam space 22 and a water space 24, the volume of which vary as thewater level varies. The accumulator is preferably designed so that itcan receive and store all the surplus steam regardless of the amount ofthe steam; that is, the accumulator should be designed so that it canalways receive and store the difference between what is generated by theboilers and what is consumed by consumers connected in front of theoverflow valve, regardless of how large this difference may be. Thismatter depends, however, on the manner in which it is desired that sothat none or very slow changes of fire in tensity under the boilers needtake place, or

where the heat to the boilers is supplied by waste gas so that no gasneed be thrown away or so that manually controlled boilers working inconnection with waste heat boilers need not be fired too unevenly. v V vCold Water is supplied through conduit 20 and is sprayed into the steamspace or upper part of receptacle 13 through the cold water spray device19. The amount of cold water supplied through pipe 20 is regulated sothat a constant temperature is maintained in receptacle 13 andconsequently thetemperature in accumulator A is constant orsubstantially constant. The flow of cold water through conduit 20 isregulated by means of a cold water regulating valve 23, which iscontrolled by an actuating mechanism comprising a dia phragm 25 (seeFig. 4) which'diaphragm is influenced on the one side by a spring '26and on the other side by the pressure of a volatile liquid in chamber28. Tube 29 connects chamber 28 with a thermostat 30 which is sit-.

As steam enters receptacle 13 through,

charging device 16,'which comprises a series of nozzles opening into thewater space, the temperature increases slightly. The volatile liquid inthermostat 30'then expands and the increase of pressure due to expansionis transmitted to diaphragm 25 which moves the disks of valve23'up'wardly, thus opening the valve 23 and allowing cold water inincreased amount:to enterthe upper part of receptacle 13'through spraydevice 19, thus condensing ste.m and lowering the temperature by thesmall increase caused by the supply of steam so. that the temperature isreturned to its nor-i mal value. The arrangement'thns maintains apractically constant temperature in the ac cumulator mixing device andthe accumular,

tor tank proper.

Hot water may be extracted from the ac cumulator for various purposes.For lIlCltF- trial purposes I have shown a hot water con sumer 31connected to receive hot water from the accumulator by means of hotwater conduit 32. The hot water consumer may, as is obvious, be ofanyckind, for example, a dye vat, washing machine, or the like.

through feed conduit 33 by means of pump 34 and sent into the boiler,the amount being regulated in any desired manner.

I consider my present invention of particular importancefor boilerfeeding as it provides hot water of constant temperature and permits theheat of off-take gases to be extracted in air preheaters which givehigher efficiency than. economizers; By combining this advantage withthat of independence of heat generation and heat consumption, myinvention provides a highly eflicient plant.

Fig.2shows details of construction of one form of over-flow valveadapted to be used with a plant laid out in accordance with my presentinvention. The valvefcomprises a casing enclosing a set of disks40.forming what is known as a balanced valve; The valve.

disks are attached to a spindle' il which is connected. to an operatingmechanism42,

which operating mechanism comprises a dia-:-

phragm-43 firmly connectedto a 'housing A' which is secured tothe mainvalve casing by to the spindle The diaphragm 43 :forms one side of achamber 47 to which anoperating fluid is conducted through a restrictedpipe 48. Thisoperating fluid may be of any kind whether gaseous'suchasair, or liquid such as water: or' oil.- 7

The operating fluid leaves chamber 47 throughan orifice 4 9, controlledby a check member 50 attached-t0v a seconddiaphragm 51,-which isinfluenced on the one side by pressure in conduit 14 in front of thevalve 15, the pressure actingthrough pipe 52, and on the other'side bythe combined influence of the actuating fluid leaving the *orifice 49'and aspring 53. The operating fluid leavesthe housing and is allowedtoflow'into the airor other exhaustmea'ns through outlet- 54. A spring 55extends between backing plate 46' and a fixed abutment-.55.

The operation of the valve is asfollowsz;

lit

Suppose the valve 15 is inthe position 1 indicated on the drawing. Nowsuppose that the pressure in conduit 14 aheadof thevalve risessomewhat): The increase of. pressure is transmitted through tube '52onto d1a phragm5l, which is moved against the action of spring 53 tojthrottle the orifice opening 49., This causes an increase of pressurein.' chamber 47 whereby diaphragm 43 is moved against the action ofspring 55 so, that the valve disks 40 are caused to move to open thevalve more and allow more steam to; pass through, which allows thepressure in conduit 14' ahead of=the valve to fall, thereby returning itto the desired constant pressure; Suppose, on theother hand, that 'th epressure falls in conduit l iahead of the valve. V The diaphragm 51 thencauses member 50 to For boiler feeding hot water is extracted.

move away from orifice opening 49 .due to the preponderance of force ofspring 53 added to the pressure of. fluid. leaving the orifice openingover the pressure exerted through tube 52, whereby, due to therestriction in pipe 48, shown in Fig. 1 as a hand valve 57, the pressuredecreases in the chamber 47 and spring 55 overcomes the opposing elfectof fluid pressure in chamber 47, and valve disks 40 are moved to closethemain valve whereby the pressure in conduit 14 before the valve isreturned to normal. By this means a constant pressure to within a smallfraction of a pound can be maintained in conduit 11 and in the boilers.

The present invention presents an advantage over a plant containing anaccumulator of variable pressure in that special designs of turbinesadapted to take steam from accumulators can be avoided.

' There is no restraint on the amount of steam generated. With somesystems now in use steam is used to heatfeed water but there is always arestraint put on the boiler. A close regulations of fires is necessary.Such systems regulate the amount of steam supplied to heat cold waterand when the necessary amount of hot feed water is obtained at theproper temperature, the steam supply is shut oil? and boiler fires mustbe reduced in intensityin corresponding degree. My system, however,put-s no such limit on the boilers. Steam may be generated in anydesired amount at all times and the diiterence between generation andconsumption will always be accumulated.

Furthermore, by means of the over-flow valve, the advantage of constantpressure in the boilers is obtained. It is always con sidered evidenceof good working in a boiler house when the boiler pressure diagramsapproximate as closely as possible to straight lines. This givesconstant pressure for auxiliaries and main engines, high efficiency ofboilers, evenness of control of water level in boilers and otherrecognized good operating points.

WVith constant boiler pressure, no accumulation reserve remains in thesteam boilers but this is well taken care of by the accumulator.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the steam passing through conduit 14is caused to intimately mix with the cold water by an injector action.Water is supplied through conduit 20 as previously. Steam passes intonozzle 91 carrying water with it and is condensed thereby. The hot waterthus produced passes through conduit 21 into the i ccumulator tank A.The thermostat is, in this case, placed in a pocket 94 arranged in aportion of conduit 21.

In case of peak loads it may be desirable to withdraw steam fromaccumulator A. and for this purpose a steam line 97 which is controlledby a valve 98 is provided. In such case the temperature will momentarilyadvantages in having the mixture of cold water and steam take place in asmall receptacle separate from the main accumulator in that there isdanger in spraying cold water into any hot device due to the differencein temperatures because there maybe a strain on the device and this isliable to decrease the life of the device, whereas by causing the mixingto take place in a separate small receptacle, the danger which may existis confined to the smaller cheaper unit which can more readily and withless cost be replaced than can a large accumulator tank, in that thecharging and spraying devices can be made smaller than if they aredesigned for effective operation within the whole of the inner space ofthe accumulator tank, and in that the small unit can be better designedfor more intimate mixing.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a steamplant, in combination, a relatively small receptacle, acold water spray device in said receptacle, a steam distributing devicein said receptacle, means to supply surplus steam generated overmomentary steam demand to said receptacle through said steamdistributing device, means to supply cold water to said receptaclethrough said cold water spray device, automatic valve mechanism forcontrolling the supply of cold water in response to temperature in saidreceptacle, a relatively large accumulator tank, means to conduct waterfrom said receptacle to said accumulator tank, means to withdraw hotwater from said accumulator tank at a rate corresponding to the rate ofdemand for hot water, the difference between the hot water demand andthe hot water produced being retained in the accumulator tank.

2. In a steam plant, in combination, a relatively small receptacle, acold water spray device in said receptacle, a steam distributing devicein said receptacle, means to supply surplus steam generated overmomentary steam demand to said receptacle through said steamdistributing device, means to supply cold water to said receptaclethrough said cold water spray device, temperature responsive means tocontrol the.

cold water supply, a relatively large accumulator tank, means to conductwater from said receptacle to said accumulator tank, means to withdrawhot water from said accumulator tank at a rate corresponding to I thatgenerated to said receptacle through mulator.

the rate'of demand for hot Water, the'diifer ence between the hot Waterdemand and the hot Water produced being retained inthe accumulator tank.V f

3. In a steam plant, in combination, a steam generator, a steamconsumer, a relatively large, constanttemperature, variable 'Water levelaccumulator, a relatively small receptacle, means to conduct steam fromsaid generator to said receptacle, a cold Water spray device in saidreceptacle, a steam distributing device in said receptacle, means toconduct surplus ofsteam not consumed above said steam distributingdevice, means to supply cold Water to said receptacle, automatictemperature responsive means to regulate the amount of cold Watersupplied to maintain a constant temperature of the hot Water produced,means to conduct hot Water from said receptacle to said accumulator andmeans to Withdraw hot Water from said accumulator at a ratecorresponding to the rate of demand for hot Water, the differencebetween the hot Water demand and the hot" matic means to control thecold Water supply in response to temperature in said receptacle, meansto conduct hot Water from said receptacle to said accumulator and meansto conduct hot Water from said accumulator to said steam generator.

5. In a steam plant, in. combination, a

lator being constructed and arranged tostore the hot water produceduntil there isa, demand for hot Water andim'eans responsive totemperature in the receptacle to control the supply of cold water andoperating to normally maintain a constant temperature in theaccumulator. i

7. In asteam plant, in combination, a con stant temperature variablewater level accumulator, containing water at difierent' heights fordifierent times, a receptacle, a steam charging device in the lower.part of said receptacle, means to supply steam to said steam chargingdevice, means to supply cold Water to said receptacle tocondense saidsteam and produce hot water, means to con duct Water from saidreceptacle to said accumulator, said accumulator being constructed andarranged to store thehot water pro duced until there is :a demandfor thehot Water and means-responsive to the temperature in thereceptacletocontrol th' of cold Water and operating to maintain a constanttemperature of hot water produced.

7 In testimony whereof, I havehereunder affixed my signature. o i o JOHANNES RUTHS.

steam boiler, a constant temperature variable Water level accumulator, areceptacle, a pas-' sage for steam from said boiler to said receptacle,valve mechanism in said'passage operating to maintain a constantpressure in said boiler, means to supply cold Water to said" receptacleto condense the steam thereto supplied and temperature responsive meansopera-ting to maintain constant temperature of hot water produced, meansto conduct'hot Water from said receptacle to saidaccumulae. tor, a hotWater consumer and means tocon duct hot water from said accumulator tosaid hot Water consumer. V

6. In a steam plant, in combination, a constant temperature variableWater'level accu- 1m1lator 'co11taining Water at different heights fordifi'erent times, a receptacle, means to supply steam to saidreceptacle,

e supply.

means to supplycold Water to said receptacle V to condense said steamand produce hotv Water, means to conduct hot waterfrom said receptacleto said accumulator, said accumu-

